CHAMPIONING CREATIVITY SINCE 2007

Bell ringing, we know, should be reserved for momentous occasions, but we’re going to back ourselves and say let’s get those badboys swinging as we present The Annual 2013. Every year It’s Nice That publishes around 2,500 articles (I know right?!) a bewildering barrage of creative brilliance we feel compelled to share with the world. Each month the editorial team sits down and selects those projects we feel were extra special; super-exciting, super-engaging and reflective of what we try and do as a publishing platform.

We’ve long been fans of the brilliant illustrator Jiro Bevis and his super-fun, super-silly and super-skilled style, and it’s not hard to see why he so floats our boat. So when we asked Commission Studio to design The Annual 2103 and they immediately suggested getting Jiro on board, we were excited to see what they had up their sleeves.

Last week we were thrilled to unveil the cover for The Annual 2013 and this week we are dialling that excitement up to 11 by giving you the first look inside its hallowed pages! The super-talented Commission Studio wanted to make sure this year’s book gave the brilliant work featured inside the flexibility to dazzle and delight readers and they’ve pulled it off in some style. Big, bold, colourful dividers introduce each month and the Commission guys have let the work lead their layouts, giving the whole thing a great visual rhythm. The Graduates 2013 is printed against a stark black background – a serious treatment for some serious young talents – and the exhibitions of the year are presented as big images of the shows themselves.

It’s been a few weeks since we launched The Annual 2013 into your lives (and, yes, your hearts) and since then we’ve been beavering away on it day and night. We are thrilled to announce that this behemoth of a book is now on press, and with that we are pleased to reveal the first look at the cover.

Now we know – we know – that the appearance of Christmas goodies in the shops at the start of October is like a red rag to a bull for an awful lot of people. So what we are about to tell you is not an effort to wish the year away, we just thought you should know that the It’s Nice That Annual 2013 is available to pre-order now! Huzzah!

And so here’s The Annual, and what have you done, another year (nearly) over and a new one (nearly) begun! Now I don’t claim to speak for John Lennon (apparently his “estate” say I don’t have the “authority” to do that any more) but I think we ALL know what he’d make of our new publication. And of course I’m not DEFINITELY saying it’d achieve world peace but if you dropped a carton-load of these on a warzone there’d at least be some downtime while both sides flicked through this behemoth of a book, packed full of some of the most exciting and engaging work we’ve come across this year.

The other day we made an announcement that you had only 60 hours left to get your copy of the It’s Nice That Annual at the extra-special pre-order price of £35, including free shipping – in fact we were pretty insistent. But then we got the very first books through the door this afternoon (they look NICE!) and had a bit of a change of heart. So for the rest of the weekend we’ll be keeping the pre-orders flowing and the price at the same rate so you’ve got an extra two whole days to get your orders in.

60 hours. That’s all we have until the hour of reckoning. 60 hours and the window of opportunity slams shut. And what then comrades?! What then?! Will you be able to say, yes, I heeded the call. Yes I stood toe-to-toe with destiny. Yes I decided that a quality hard-back digest of some of the best art and design posted on It’s Nice That this year was for me.

The It’s Nice That Annual is now on press and no word of a lie we are counting the days until we can hold one in our human hands. The hardest thing about our newest project is conveying how big this thing is – sure the numbers above give you an idea of the kind of scale we’re talking about but we felt we needed a way to make it crystal clear.

Come one, come all and gather round, It’s Nice That has a rather exciting announcement. For the first time EVER, winter 2012 sees the publication of the It’s Nice That Annual, a round-up of the very best content we’ve been lucky enough to post over the past 12 months.